PowerPivot for Business Intelligence Using Excel and SharePoint

✍ Scribed by Barry Ralston

• Publisher: Apress
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 299
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

 PowerPivot comprises a set of technologies for easy access to data mining and business intelligence analysis from Microsoft Excel and SharePoint. Power users and developers alike can create sophisticated, online analytic processing (OLAP) solutions using PowerPivot for Excel, and then share those solutions with other users via PowerPivot for SharePoint. Data can be pulled in from any of the leading database platforms, as well as from spreadsheets and flat files.  PowerPivot for Business Intelligence Using Excel and SharePoint is your key to mastering PowerPivot. The book takes a scenario-based approach to showing you how to collect data, to mine that data through insightful analysis, and to draw conclusions that drive business performance. Each chapter in the book is focused on a specific challenge that you’ll encounter when using PowerPivot. Each chapter takes you through a solution technique that’s been proven in the real world.        Covers the leading technology for bringing data analytics to the desktop      Presents real-world solutions to real-world scenarios      Written by a Microsoft Virtual Technical Specialist (VTS) for business intelligence              What you’ll learn     Install and verify the PowerPivot software      Integrated existing, available data to deliver business intelligence      Leverage Time Intelligence to report change over time      Write Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to create custom measures      Identify and implement solutions for role-playing dimensions      Recognize and work-around PowerPivot’s missing features   Who this book is for             PowerPivot Solutions for Excel and SharePoint is aimed at information workers and data analysts who typically use Excel to drive business decisions. The book shows how you can apply PowerPivot to problems typically addressed through complicated and arcane spreadsheet techniques. Business people without the time and interest in learning Excel arcane will especially appreciate how PowerPivot enables them to easily create models and perform analysis far in advance of anything they could do using Excel alone.               Table of Contents     Getting Started with PowerPivot for Excel      Hello World, PowerPivot Style      Combining Data Sources      Data Analysis Expressions      A Method to the Madness      Installing PowerPivot for SharePoint      Collaboration, Version Control, and Management      PowerPivot As a Data Source      PowerPivot and SQL Server Reporting Services      PowerPivot and Predictive Analytics      Tips, Tricks, and Traps

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
......Page 1
Contents at a Glance......Page 3
Contents......Page 291
About the Author......Page 297
About the Technical Reviewer......Page 298
Acknowledgments......Page 299
Filling the Gap with PowerPivot for Excel......Page 4
What You Will Need......Page 5
Installing the Add-In......Page 6
A Brief Tour of PowerPivot for Excel......Page 7
A Trivial Test Case......Page 8
The Test Report......Page 10
Summary......Page 12
Assembling the Solution......Page 13
Starting the Table Import Wizard......Page 14
Selecting the Table......Page 16
Monitoring the Import......Page 17
Reviewing the Results......Page 18
Data Refresh......Page 19
Behind the Scenes in PowerPivot for Excel......Page 23
Summary......Page 25
The Business Scenario......Page 26
Good Relationships......Page 31
PivotTables and PivotCharts......Page 35
Slicers......Page 38
Summary......Page 41
Data Analysis Expressions......Page 43
Calculated Columns......Page 44
Table Relationships......Page 49
Calculated Measures from Multiple Data Sources......Page 54
Filter Context......Page 60
Summary......Page 64
Justification for a Method......Page 65
Transactional vs. Analytical Data Stores......Page 66
Measures, Dimensions, and Hierarchies......Page 67
Practices......Page 68
Creating a Relationship......Page 69
Examining the Result......Page 70
Shortcut to a Rich Date Dimension......Page 73
Handling Moving Holidays......Page 75
No Calculation......Page 77
% Of......Page 78
% of Parent Row Total......Page 79
% of Parent Total......Page 80
Difference From......Page 81
Running Total In......Page 82
% Running Total In......Page 83
Index......Page 84
Summary......Page 91
Getting Started......Page 93
Existing SharePoint 2010 Installation......Page 94
Virtual Success......Page 97
Running PowerPivot for SharePoint on Windows 7......Page 103
Edit the Config.xml File......Page 108
Install Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0......Page 109
Install the Microsoft Sync Framework......Page 110
Install Windows Identity Foundation......Page 111
Enable Required Windows Features......Page 112
Fun with PowerPivot and SharePoint......Page 123
Summary......Page 125
Sharing Solutions......Page 127
Publishing......Page 128
Gallery......Page 135
Carousel......Page 136
Web Usage Scenarios......Page 137
PowerPivot Management Dashboard......Page 142
Query Response Times......Page 143
Average Instance Memory......Page 145
Activity......Page 146
Workbook Activity Chart......Page 147
Workbook Activity List......Page 148
Summary......Page 151
PowerPivot As a Data Source for PowerPivot......Page 152
PowerPivot Management Dashboard As a Data Source......Page 173
PowerPivot and PerformancePoint Dashboards......Page 177
Summary......Page 187
PowerPivot and SQL Server Reporting Services......Page 188
Consuming SSRS As a PowerPivot Data Source......Page 189
Using PowerPivot As an SSRS Data Source......Page 196
Summary......Page 217
Introducing the Data Mining Add-In for Excel......Page 218
Installing the Data Mining Add-In......Page 219
Locating the Table Analysis Tools......Page 226
Creating a SSAS Connection......Page 228
Preparing Data with PowerPivot......Page 240
Mining Some Data......Page 243
Taking Data Mining to the Cloud with Predixion Software......Page 246
Summary......Page 262
PowerPivot Annoyances......Page 264
User Experience for PowerPivot Solutions......Page 270
Tuning PowerPivot Performance......Page 272
Summary......Page 275
A......Page 276
C......Page 277
D......Page 278
F......Page 279
M......Page 280
O......Page 281
P......Page 282
S......Page 284
W......Page 286
Z......Page 287